These spiders are common at the site and are about hand sized.

On the way to Sarawak Cultural Village we encounter our first snake. A big one – I estimate 2m. By the time the others catch up we can only see its tail.

The bridge from the walkway to the head house.

The head house is where boys live until they are married. You can see a hornbill head and (just out of sight) a bunch of human heads strung up high in the hut so the spirits can get away.

The village offers you a passport to all the tribes of the area which you can get stamped at each mayor hut. Above Emma and Alex try the blowpipe with poisonous darts.

There is a clear distinction between rich town peope (wooden floor) and more nomadic (bamboo floor) native people. When Jane mentions she would quite like to live in the lady’s house she tells us it’s expensive with all the materials to own such a house.

At the village we also spot a monkey who poses long enough for me to work out how to push exposure to get more than a black outline.

The cultural dance show is actually quite good and the dancers seem to enjoy it. The chief with the blowpipe is best. At the end he invites a girl from the audience to dance with him and makes fun of her shoes and gets her to break a balloon with a dart.

After the village we check out the shopping mall, but many shops are closed. On the way back we spot the real monkeys emptying the bin and sitting on cars.

We book some trips after dinner for 16 and 18 Aug to the forests and the islands.

Johnny finds us al right and takes us to Changi. We get a $5 good customer discount.
We arrive at Permai via taxi again (much cheaper than Permai shuttle) and are of course too early for our room.

We have a drink and go to discover the 2nd beach where the water is quite hot (29-ish). There are lots of little crabs who make holes, and roll the spoils out in little balls. Some crabs are more organised than others and make nice star-burst patterns out of their little balls.

The hut has 2x bedrooms with 3 beds and a living room with 2x sofas and a fridge. The bathroom has a hot shower. We apply ourselves to installing mosquito nets although I don’t see too many inside. All the rooms have ceiling fans and we have these permanently on.
Several observations: The windows and screens don’t really close very well (but how could they unless made of plastic or metal) and the door has a gap big enough for our cabin gecko to get in and out. Our gecko is very shy, especially after Alex manages to grab it.

We spend the afternoon more or less in the jungle pool which is comfortable and has fish and shrimps in it. The locals seem to prefer this pool to the beach because it is fresh water and fuly shaded. The temperature takes getting used to after the warm sea. Alex catches a large bunch of small shrimps but fails to get a fish.

On the path from the cafe to the jungle pool and our hut there are stilt houses with a sea view (and air conditioning):

Monday 12 August 2013 – Still Singapore

At breakfast there is a group of kids doing Hollandse Club summer camp. It’s all in English but the majority of the children are Dutch.

There is a type of black bird here which is specialised in eating the remains of breakfast.

We got up a little too late for a morning walk, but persist and go to the Botanical Gardens. A few months ago a bicycle was stolen here. Very dangerous area.

The gardens are good and we spot some animals, but Alex is not used to the heat and we should have gone earlier. We laze in one of the many hilltop resting places in the gardens and spot the birds which are again experts in clean up activities. This seems to be a Singapore expertise. Alex spots another gecko and also many local mini-centipedes which he can confirm do not sting or bite when handled.

We try for a walk to the lakes where the monitors live, but even the sight of large lizards doesn’t convince Alex.

The MRT has a system where you can reuse the physical RFID tickets. We only use it once of course. The trains are about 50% wider than London Underground and they have not used the additional space to make more seats, but have improved comfort and no doubt greater rush hour capacity. For a Monday mid-day the MRT has almost all seats taken.

Haw Par Villa and the ten courts of hell. Alex hasn’t stopped asking about the punishments (cut in half, boiled in oil, thrown on the tree of knives, etc). Maybe we shouldn’t have taken him there. We like the little car with the dragons head. Everything here is very nicely sculpted and painted.

But it’s too hot and we take a taxi back for lunch and get into the swimming pool. Half the pool is taken all day with swimming lessons, but there is enough space. After dinner Alex and mummy have an evening swim while Emma writes and I finish my programming assignment.

Our table has it’s own Buddha:

Emma and Alex demonstrate the luxury of their room:

I check out and SMS Johnny who agrees to pick us up at 6:30.